Charges Expected in Natasha Pettigrew Case

Sources close to the investigation of the death of Natasha Pettigrew say that the State's Attorney will seek an indictment for fleeing the scene of an accident in which a death occurred. Given the lack of witnesses willing to testify, there is insufficient evidence for manslaughter. No other details are available at this time.

Ms. Pettigrew was the Green Party candidate for US Senate last year, until she was struck by an SUV while riding south on Largo Road (MD-202) near Prince Georges County Community College, early in the morning of September 19, 2011. The driver stopped briefly and then proceeded home to Upper Marlboro, dragging Ms. Pettegrew's bike all the way, later telling police she thought she hit a deer. Initial statements by the state police implied that the police believed the driver and blamed Ms. Pettigrew for the crash, for not wearing reflective clothing. Reporters and Ms. Pettigrew's mother soon found reflective clothing that she had been wearing at the scene of the crash.

I agree with Contrarian. We can assume that the driver is unwilling to testify. I don't recall if there was a passenger.

Once again, however, I am disgusted at the lack of a stronger legal response. It took almost a year, and we get "leaving the scence of an accident." How about negligent homicide? Because the driver left the scene and/or failed to check, Pettigrew did not get immediate medical attention. The person of ordinary prudence would have stopped, investigated, and called emergency services. But for the driver's negligence, Pettigrew died.

That the driver doesn't have to testify, doesn't change the fact that they are unwilling. (If that is even the case). You have to ask Jim what he meant by that, but regardless isn't the driver a witness? So the answer to your question is "no".

@Charlie, SJE, et al. I have no information on how many people saw the crash and/or observed the driver's state of mind. To say that there were "no witnesses" would have required me to state more than I know.

To go ahead with a manslaughter case requires demonstrating that the driver knew that her driving had a high likelihood of killing someone, and that the death actually did result from the way that she was driving. Proof that she was drunk would probably have been enough to proceed. Absent such proof, evidence that she discussed her errant driving before the accident would be necessary.

The difficulty of proceeding with a manslaughter case led Keniss Henry (Ms. Pettigrew's mother) to join other victims' families, WABA, BM, and others to work for passage of a new negligent homicide statute, which takes effect this October 1. Even under that statute, it is necessary to produce evidence of really bad driving before the accident, you just do not need to show that the driver realized how bad she was driving.

I do not know what the police and S.A. were thinking, but I can think of scenarios in which they have basically done it right. Perhaps initial statements blaming Ms. Pettigrew were intended to lull the driver into being cooperative a little bit longer. Immediately charging the driver with hit-and-run could have compromised the potential manslaughter case, if the S.A. thought that such a case might exist. Finally, while it was always pretty clear that a hit-and-run had occurred, the sequence of events led to some uncertainty about whether the offending driver was actually the owner of the car.